Sukhbir Badal urges PM Modi to iron out issue related to omission of sikh community in judges' appointment in HC

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], August 17 (ANI): Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and address the sentiments of the Sikh community which was "perturbed over the complete omission of members from their community" in the latest notified list of advocates who have been elevated as Additional Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the SAD president said, "I am confident that you will be concerned that not a single member from the Sikh community has been chosen for elevation from among the eleven advocates whose appointments have been notified by the union government. This has caused immense dismay as this comes at a time when there is not a single Sikh judge in the Supreme Court."
Badal said there was no dearth of Sikh and other Punjabi legal luminaries who had distinguished themselves in serving the society. "Such able personalities should be considered for elevation to the top courts of the country including the Punjab and Haryana high court," he said while urging the Prime Minister to personally intervene in the matter and rectify the situation.
Badal emphasized that a wrong message has been sent to the nationalistic Sikh community with their omission from top judicial appointments.
Badal also informed PM Modi that besides the issue of judicial appointments, Punjabis had been severely victimized in the past.
"We are the only ones who do not have their own capital; we do not have right over our waters as per the riparian principle and have lost our Punjabi speaking areas at the time of reorganization of the State. We have also been adversely affected because our neighbours were given special economic packages," he said while requesting the Prime Minister to take up all pending issues including that of judicial appointments sympathetically.
On August 13, the Union Law Ministry notified the appointment of 26 High Court Judges in the courts of Allahabad, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gauhati, Orissa and Himachal Pradesh.
Eleven judges were appointed by the government on Sunday in Punjab and Haryana High Court, said the Union Law Ministry.
The 11 appointments in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana include the names; Nidhi Gupta; Sanjay Vashisth; Tribhuvan Dahiya; Namit Kumar; Harkesh Manuja; Aman Chaudhary; Naresh Singh; Harsh Bunger; Jagmohan Bansal; Deepak Manchanda and Alok Jain. (ANI)